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Downtown land use activist Kelly Hammargren has written to Berkeley Mayor Arreguin, City of Berkeley planning staff and the city council to report her discovery that a very large new apartment complex on South Shattuck Avenue in downtown Berkeley is being rented as a hotel instead of as the dwelling units for which it was permitted. 

In a letter sent to them on Saturday night, she says: 

“For all the cries for affordable housing and the posturing that Berkeley isn’t approving and building enough housing, recently opened projects in the Berkeley downtown area can’t seem to find renters. Possibly luxury priced projects in the downtown are overbuilt or possibly there is more interest by the developer in being a hotel than providing housing. 

“Parker Place apartment complex at 2037 Parker Street is listed as a hotel in all of the common hotel booking websites, i.e. booking.com, expedia, hotwire, hotels.com, in fact just type in Global Luxury Suites Downtown Berkeley into your favorite search engine and see what pops up.”